One Hundred Demons is a coming of age story. It shows the
different “demons” Barry had to face while she was growing up. The name of this
graphic novel makes it seem as if the story would be more intense or “scary”
but as I read, I found that Barry’s demons were quite relatable. The one demon
I was able to relate with is Barry’s mom! I laughed hysterically when she wrote
“My mother, who was obsessively enraged with at least one person at all times,
would not admit to hatred”. This is my
mom made over, specifically where she says that her mother was enraged with at
least one person at all times—beyond relatable! Is there one chapter or “demon”
that you were able to relate to? Is there one chapter that made you laugh
hysterically like me?
What do you think of the demons she uses or discusses when
she is older such as her first job? Do you see a change in the panels,
drawings, or text boxes?
Overall, what did you think of the novel? Since this graphic
novel is structured in vignette form, was it easy or hard to follow? What did
you think of the different chapters going out of age order instead of
chronological order? Do you think her story was more effective by putting these
vignettes out of order? Or, would they have been more effective in relaying the
story if they were in chronological order?
I can actually relate to both of you when it comes to my mother. My mother especially is short tempered and can be enraged with at least one person at all times. My family members, mostly. I too can relate to the same demon; her mother, which gave me a good smile as well.
ReplyDeleteI do see a change in the story, where she's maturing, but it still looks like the same style of art. As the story progresses, we see how the subjects of the chapters change from something that a child would be concerned with, to more mature concerns. This displays the coming of age genre. The art style does not change, as it still appears to be something that a child would put together.
Overall, even though this story wasn't exactly the most artistic, this was still amusing to read. This coming of age story was enough to give me a good laugh. Maybe it's for the best if the art was styled like this. I believe that this is telling use that we should focus less on the art and more on the story. A perfect demonstration of what we should be doing.
I found it interesting that the art didn't change as she matured. I know that the style is Barry's style but it would have been cool if the art changed throughout each vignette, through each demon in her life!
DeleteWhen first reading this graphic novel and looking at the title, I thought it was going to be something crazy about angels and demons, monsters, ghosts, etc., but I found it very relateable and interesting because those things that she viewed as "her demons" are those that many encounter and I love how she called them "demons" rather than hardships or encounters.
A lot of it got me pretty hysterical. I was very amused by the demons of magic, san francisco, and my first job. I related to magic and the allure of different new music at a young age, to discovering all of the allure and hardness that comes with all that, and the dis-apparation of close friendships. I related to san francisco and the desire to get up and go somewhere, follow the "cool" people and just be not at home. And I related a little bit to the idea of first job. Though I never got scammed in my first job, first jobs can be pretty rough :P
ReplyDeleteI thought the demons later on were pretty compelling. The titles and art style got a little vague as time went on, but the content got pretty intense and narrowed, as I think it was meant to as the story went on. The art style seemed pretty similar, but the story definitely seemed to mature as time went on. Even though it wasn't all chronological and she didn't "grow" over time, the story still seemed to grow. I really liked this novel. The vignette structure I thought was really appropriate and interesting. It wasn't necessarily just about telling her life story from top to bottom, but telling different important points in her life that meant a lot to her, and helped her grow/ caused struggle in her life as a whole.
I agree with you on the aspect where the titles and art style got a little vague! I think this aspect is due to the more complicated issues that arose as she matured. I also believe that because we see her "coming of age", the content would get a bit more heavy and in-depth as she matured! Great observation!
DeleteThere were a couple of demons that stuck out to me, but I found "The Election" to be one of the most relatable because it is so relevant to the current political climate. I was 15 when Bush bought- I mean, won the presidency from Gore, and I remember how polarized people were with regards to the election. Every single detail was nitpicked by both people and the media to the point that it actually started to drive people apart. We see that now with the extreme polarization that has taken ahold of the country. Our government is seemingly irrevocably divided along party lines. Every major event in the news almost instantaneously makes people draw lines and scream at those on the other side. But we rarely realize how little a difference our screaming makes. Barry states that "I've been loving and hating people I don't even know. I've been delighted by boils and wrecked over dimples." How perfectly does this describe the way we react anymore? We take everything other people say as a personal slight; for example, just a few hours ago, I was swearing at my radio because NPR played a clip of Senator Ted Cruz making a remark that irked me greatly. We get ourselves riled up over things we have no hope of controlling, and it is now more common than ever because we are all so interconnected via social media and the internet.
ReplyDeleteI found the demons used as she aged to be a very clever way of showing how our mode of thinking changes as we age. When we are young, demons can very much be physical things, and they can have a profound effect on us. As we age, the things that affect us tend to become more intangible in nature, yet they can still wreak the same havoc, or even greater havoc, than any physical demon.
The novel overall was, for me, a very enlightening read, especially for how my own demons affect me. I have had my fair share of issues over the years, but though I am a very introverted person by nature, I don't often given my demons a particularly thorough examination. Reading this book made me start to rethink them, and the effects they have. The non-chronological nature of the book actually worked in this context because we are often afflicted by multiple demons at any one time. That's why growing up can be so difficult; there is so much bombarding us from every angle that it's nothing short of a miracle that we can make sense of anything.
The art style was actually really interesting. It's actually barely noticeable, but looking back on the story and flipping back through the book, you can see that as the book presses forward and she gets older and whatnot, that while the art style stays very similar, the finesse and the coloring and the way the characters are drawn get a lot clearer and a lot cleaner. The earlier "chapters" felt incredibly cluttered and messy, while the artwork in the later chapters seemed a lot more spacious, even though just as much space was taken up by the word boxes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm very certain that this was intentional, both to depict the discombobulated way that an adult remembers parts of their childhood and to show how a lot of things become more clear as you grow up. This was shown really well also by the differences in the demons that she fought when she was little vs. the demons she fought as she grew up.
I really liked it overall. Not necessarily something I would pick up again, but it is certainly something I'm glad I took the time to read, and really does make you think. When fighting different "demons" throughout life, it is nice to be able to look at someone else's journey and know they made it through.
As for the way she ordered all of the vignettes, I think it was great. Things don't always necessarily impact you or change you in the same order, so I think it was just fine that they weren't in chronological order. Although we live our lives in chronological order, the things that impact and change us don't always do it in that order, and there certainly is something to be said about the fact that telling stories out of order can have a greater impact than telling them in order (I'm thinking Chronicles of Narnia is a perfect example. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is first no matter what y'all say!)
Yeah, I agree. There were a lot of relatable moments. Unfortunately one of the demons that I related to Barry with was growing up too fast. In the demon named "The Visitor" (which I actually considered one of the strongest stories) Barry comprimises who she is and what she wants in order to be more compatible with a boy she meets. When I was a teenager I compromised a lot of who I was for attention from the opposite sex (I think it's something our society conditions young girls to do). I also relate with the sadness in which Barry retells these sort of stories. It seems like she's mourning bits of her childhood that were lost, and sometimes I look back with regret too.
ReplyDeleteI didn't feel very strongly for or against the style of this book. I liked the non-linear story-telling used because I think that's how memories pop up in a persons mind, sometimes without any provocation. Also, some of the stories were stronger than others, and I think the curiosity about the "next" story kept me going throughout the book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
I honestly don't think that I could relate very well to any one demon. I had a pretty bad first relationship, so maybe the one about her boyfriend. But other than that, it wasn't super relatable for me. I think the chapter I found most hysterical was the one about her mother. Even though my own mother is not like that, I know mothers who are, and it does crack me up.
ReplyDeleteI did notice a bit of a change, namely in the way she depicts people. It seems that her artwork actually improves when she is drawing her life as an adult, and it's not just herself that looks better, but the whole novel.
Overall, I did not really like the novel. I didn't find the vignette form hard to follow, and that part of it was enjoyable. The structure of the story as a whole I found very interesting. But the artwork was very distracting to me and did not appeal to my tastes. I found myself kind of grossed out with the book after awhile, like I couldn't look at it for too long. It was an unfortunate experience, as I am sure I might have enjoyed the story better if not for the artwork. But in response to the actual question, I do think that maybe the story could have been more effective if relayed in chronological order. At the same time, it would lose certain aspects of the way Barry reveals her life. But I would be interested to read this book in chronological order.
I can definitely relate to the Hate demon. A lot of people try to pretend that none of them hate but it’s a lie to say no one hates anyone else. We try so hard to pretend we’re perfect and we all get along but sometimes you simply don’t like someone and it doesn’t always have to be personal. I also relate a lot with resilience and the idea of how a person can be broken especially in their transition years in life but would be considered resilient for continuing through their days. I especially connect with the idea of remembering to forget certain things in life just to move on. The one other is magic because of the idea of getting older and moving on from those who are younger than you because they aren’t cool anymore. I did this a lot growing up and thinking back on it like Barry did it doesn’t make a lot of sense now. In some ways it was because I had genuinely grown up but in other ways I wonder if I was too hasty to give up certain friends.
ReplyDeleteThe text in the text boxes seem larger when she speaks of her older self and sometimes the background can be more detailed or less detailed in comparison to those involving her younger self. I don’t think they are all too different from the demons about her younger self except relating to more defined moments in her past.
I don’t think putting the vignettes in order would have made the story any more effective than it is now. Actually it would probably lose a lot of its charm that way. While this novels isn’t as heavy as those before it I think it’s simplicity in relating the life of a person who isn’t exactly famous or involved in anything historically eventful but her life still matters. It’s this ordinary recount of someone’s life that makes it easier for those of us who are similar.
I'm not sure that there was one demon that I related to more than another - they were all pretty universal, and I've dealt with more than a few of them throughout the course of my life. In that, I think the novel is successful: it presents well-known (yet often unspoken) personal issues in a way that makes them immediately relatable.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to watch her art style change - evolve? - over the course of the novel. Someone above mentioned that her art became more coherent when she moved to the portions of the novel depicting her as an adult, and I agree with that. Whether it was a deliberate measure on Barry's part to show a "maturation" of the character's worldview through the way the art is presented, or just happy coincidence I cannot say.
Nonlinear storytelling is a tricky proposition for a creator: you know what the story is, and the reader doesn't. You have to be more objective about how you present information, lest you run the risk of losing your audience with the various transitions. Personally, I'm a big fan of vignette storytelling. It gives the narrative a more immediate and focused feeling. To that extent, I think that it worked pretty well in this particular novel (the subject matter lends itself rather well to that form of storytelling). Unfortunately, I'm not sure the novel itself was completely successful. Though I wouldn't blame the format, something about the novel just didn't really "click" for me. In a weird way, I almost feel like the unique subject matter and format of the novel wasn't really taken advantage of as strongly as it could have been. I would be very curious to see another artist/writer tackle this narrative.
I agree that many of the demons were universal, but the one that really hit me in the feels and may have jerked a tear or two from me was the chapter entitled “Dogs.” I’m a dog person, and I’ve had troubling issues in my past. When Barry tells us about her adopted dog with a troubled past, and compares it to a person worked well on many levels for me. The final statement of this chapter is what really got me when it stated, “All she needed was to find the right home. But that’s true for all of us, isn’t it” (180). I don’t know if this was the most relatable demon, but it was the one that provoked the biggest emotional response for me anyway.
ReplyDeleteAs for the demons she drew when she was older, I personally didn’t notice any changes in the panels, text boxes, or drawings because there was a lot of jumping around from time periods. There were instances where Barry’s childhood, teenage, and adult depictions were present in the same chapter. The only difference I notice was in her appearance when she switched ages.
At first, I was struggling through the novel. It could have been because it started off slow, or it took a while to get use to the unique structure and form. Nevertheless, I eventually got into it. The demons depicted in the comic can are very relatable. The comic tells universal truths of coming to age in a simple and unique way. The language used throughout the story is simple, and when compared to Fun Home, it almost feels like a kid’s book. On the other hand, the drawings are sophisticated and chaotic. These two elements combine to create an unusual piece, but I like it.
I think as the story progressed the panels seemed to get less hectic and in some ways less sympathetic. There is something to be said about humor and how it is affected by age. In the chapters that focus on her childhood it seemed to feel like they were somewhat dramatic. Experiences in adolescence have deep impacts on the psyche of a person. I found it to be more heartbreaking to hear how she was slighted and wronged as a child compared to when she is an adult. We like to think that things bounce off of us as an adult and that humor plays its role and goes away. The best example to illustrate my theory is the demon of "dancing" which is perhaps my favorite demon. When Barry is told as a child that her dancing is spastic and crazy she begins to feel the true weight of insecurity and self doubt. Before her dancing was criticized she looked at dancing in a completely different light. After she heard these criticism's she not only didn't enjoy it anymore but began to over analyze and critique the people around her as a defense mechanism. As an artist my work is being critiqued all of the time and sometimes it just feels like someone has sucked the joy out of the experience when they break down something you love. There is a beautiful simplicity to finding joy in an activity outside of our comfort zone. Like Barry each of us has simple comforts that we hold very dearly and despite our lack of skill we pursue it anyway. It is not until someone shatters our illusion that we give it up.
ReplyDeleteI think many parts of the story had me very engaged. However I found myself losing interest part way through the book. Did it feel to anyone else like she was kind of throwing a pity party? I know that it is an emotional tale and it is a sad one at that but it is hard to invest ourselves fully in a character when they are being a downer. I could approach most of the situations in the book and assume that they would end up with her feeling slighted and broken down. I applaud her for sharing these experiences but after a while there is an emotional disconnect for me because to some extend I cannot relate to that pessimistic outlook. I would definitely say I enjoyed novel but I couldn't see myself reading many more of her books.